blur
the
art
of
undefining
Dig in to some of
the best multicultural
meals in Minneapolis.
Mmm...
Soccer helps Karen
refugees find a new
home on a familiar field.
The
Universal
Language
Franken-animals
Partners in Politics
Black vs. African American
Letter from the Editors
Editors
Mandi Castillo Roberts Lauren Scheller
Managing editors
Jessica Tam Chelsey LarsonArt director
Alicia WerdelSenior editors
Agnes Rzepecki Kevin Coss Nicholas Lawrence Laura SievertStaff writer
Yuridia RamírezAssociate editors
Samantha Machart Brian Johnson Alyson Cummings A.J. MacDonaldAssistant art directors
Sam Offerdahl Benjamin Ong Ken Nelson
Staff photographers
Marlie Barry Matt CarlsonWeb editor
Will WlizloWeb programmer
Dustin CahillWeb art director
Kristin Lueck
Web associate editor
Alex Hall
Bloggers
Larry Gandy Rebecca ErnstCirculation/Marketing manager
Marial WeidnerWe are opposites.
One of us has blonde hair, blue eyes and has lived in the Midwest her entire life. The other has brown hair, brown eyes and has lived on three different continents. The first is indistinguishable from the locals of the small, predominantly German, Wisconsin town her family moved to when she was in second grade. The second is the first of her family to be born in the United States and has always stood out as “exotic” no matter where she lives.
Both of us have experienced the feeling of being an outsider. Lauren never managed to shake that “new kid” feeling, partly because her peers referred to her as “the girl from St. Louis” until she graduated from high school. Mandi has learned not to take offense when people call her “white.” She is extremely proud that she’s Danish, Japanese and Latin.
Working on this magazine has helped our entire staff realize that we all have had that feeling of not belonging. Whether it’s because of our sexuality, life experience or taste in music, each and every one of us has unique characteristics that separate us from our peers. That’s why Blur educates, celebrates and accepts how these differences overlap and make us who we are.
The United States is no longer simply multicultural; instead, we have successfully transitioned into a multi culture. New technologies make it both harder and easier to find one’s place in the world.
Today, language barriers, or any other barriers for that matter, can be overcome. We can all take a lesson from the Karen soccer team (page 18). Nobody is silenced in today’s world. The Deaf community (page 4), like many minority groups, is speaking up and merging into everyday society. From technology to wrestling to glow-in-the-dark animals, Blur is not about putting people or ideas in a box, or giving new names to old categories. Instead it’s a celebration of the art of undefining.
B
L
U
R
S
T
A
F
F
LAUREN SCHELLER MANDI CASTILLO ROBERTS
We would like to thank the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, Elizabeth Larsen, Jeanne Schacht, Scott Dierks, Wally Swanson and Al Tims. This publication is made possible by the Milton L. Kaplan Memorial Fund.
Editors
Mandi Castillo Roberts Lauren Scheller
Managing editors
Jessica Tam Chelsey LarsonArt director
Alicia WerdelSenior editors
Agnes Rzepecki Kevin Coss Nicholas Lawrence Laura SievertStaff writer
Yuridia RamírezAssociate editors
Samantha Machart Brian Johnson Alyson Cummings A.J. MacDonaldAssistant art directors
Sam Offerdahl Benjamin Ong Ken Nelson
Staff photographers
Marlie Barry Matt CarlsonWeb editor
Will WlizloWeb programmer
Dustin CahillWeb art director
Kristin Lueck
Web associate editor
Alex Hall
Bloggers
Larry Gandy Rebecca ErnstCirculation/Marketing manager
Marial WeidnerFEATURES
SPIDERBABY
Wrestling, writing and entertaining are only three strands in Terrance Griep’s web ...
10
TURNING JAPANESE
Japanese aesthetics sculpt American pop culture ...
14
SOCCER: DO YOU SPEAK IT?
Karen refugees find a new home on a familiar field ...
18
MMM…
Four great places to find multicultural meals in Minneapolis ...
22
DOING MORE, THINKING LESS
Is multitasking lowering our IQs?...
28
LIFE
Krishnadelic—Prince Rama blend Vaishnava Hinduism with experimental rock ...
2
Mix and Mash—Match the songs to the tracks they sample ...
2
Learning through Lyrics—McNally Smith’s new program
brings hip-hop to the classroom ...
3
Unheard—When it comes to Deaf culture, there’s more than meets the ear ...
4
Eti-questions —Prof. Politeness helps you mind your P’s and Q’s ...
5
POLITICS
Breakin’ it Down—The U.S. Census Bureau projects the country’s demographics ...
6
Finding the Bull’s-Eye—Targeting an audience is becoming more precise ...
6
Seeking Common Ground—Is it time to focus on political parties’ similarities? ...
8
TECH
Beyond the Blueprint—Computer-aided design pushes the limits of architecture ...
30
Going Hybrid—Designer dogs are the new top models...
32
Freaks of Nature—Move over, Superman. Here are the new super animals ...
32
NINE TO FIVE
One-Man Band—Employers just can’t get no satisfaction with their ideal new hires ...
33
From Scratch—Immigrant restaurant owners build a tamale empire...
34
Inquire Online—Internet classifieds reroute the job search ...
36
VOICE
I am [Enter Race Here]—Checking a box has never been so complicated ...
37
Paint and Prejudice—Is graffiti art or vandalism? ...
38
Blur’s Wish List—Four needs you didn’t have, satisfied by consumerism ...
40
38
22
life
BLUR
: What was your upbringing like, being raised in a Hare Krishna community?Taraka Larson
: As soon as we [Larson and her sister] got to high school, we moved out to Alachua, Fla., which is like the U.S.’s largest Hare Krishna community. Our parents would take us to services a lot. But it’s not too different from people going to church, except that everyone has these funny, unpronounceable names and wears saris.B: Could you describe what a Hare Krishna service is like?
TL: The services themselves
are mostly comprised of singing and chanting. The terminology for it is kirtan, which means call-and-response hymns. It’s definitely a super-participatory thing. There’ll be 13 people playing drums as loud as they can or playing harmonium. People are up dancing—it’s a total loss of self.
Krishnadelic
Prince Rama blends Vaishnava
Hinduism with experimental rock.
Mix
B: Do you try to recreate spiritual experiences of a Krishna service when you’re playing a show with Prince Rama?
TL: I feel like without
intentionally doing it, it kind of has evolved to be that way. We make handmade percussion instruments, like little jingle-jangles, bells stuck on toy dinosaurs or beer cans filled with rice, and we hand them out to the audience.
B: What about the chanting and mantras of Prince Rama work so well with the
psychedelic, experimental rock that you play?
TL: I think the psychedelic
experience is supposed to get you out of yourself, to get you to see and be aware of other dimensions folded into this reality. And the mantras themselves—there’s not much in the words that you can grasp onto in this reality. If you focus on it, it doesn’t give you much knowledge about your external reality. Yet, it sort of creates this semantic porthole into mystery, into some sort of other mysterious realm.
— WILL WLIZLO Bedecked with jewels and playing otherworldly psychedelia,
Prince Rama is the last band you would expect to have grown up immersed in the Hare Krishna community. But that’s not stopping them from taking the experimental music scene by storm—Prince Rama released its latest album, Shadow Temple, on Animal Collective’s imprint Paw Tracks in September 2010. Blur interviewed Prince Rama’s leading lady Taraka Larson.
1
“Play Your Part”Track one from self-described “pop music enthusiast” Girl Talk’s chart-topping 2008 release, Feed The Animals. Waxy.org’s Andy Baio estimates that Gregg Gillis, the DJ behind Girl Talk, sampled 322 songs on the 14-track album.
2
“I’m An Adler Girl”
Los Angeles’ Super Mash Bros. took their party “from the basement to the masses” with their 2009 release of F--- Bitches. Get Euros, which this track is on. Made up of Dick Fink, Nick Fenmore and Ethan Dawes, SMB have called themselves “Girl Talk’s hot cousin.”
3
“Dirtbag Baby”The best part about this track, off E-603’s Torn Up, is that it’s free. Ethan Ward has made both his albums, the first is aptly titled Something for Everyone, available for free download from his website and MySpace page. Ward also offers a “Pay What You Want” option.
a n d
Mash
From left to right: Nimai Larson, Michael Collins, Taraka Larson.
Photo by:
Michael Collins (bottom).
life
Learning
through
Lyrics
McNally Smith’s new program brings
hip-hop to the classroom.
When on stage, mic in hand, Toki Wright wants the crowd not only to hear his words, but his honesty. He expects the same at his day job, where instead of a mic he uses a dry-erase marker.
Wright, a Twin Cities hip-hop artist, shares his knowledge and passion for the genre at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minn. He serves as a student advisor, teacher and program coordinator for the Hip-Hop Studies Diploma Program, the first accredited program of its kind in the nation.
Wright’s wisdom encompasses all aspects of hip-hop: the business, the performance and the music’s capacity as a cross-cultural platform. “Hip-hop doesn’t have a specific race, color or gender,” Wright says. “If you’re good, you can be respected.”
The Twin Cities area proves just that with its diverse hip-hop scene. It is home to the independent record label Rhymesayers, which distributes independent acts such as the albino, Muslim rapper Brother Ali, the commercially successful group Atmosphere and the comic book-inspired MF Doom. Wright himself often opens for Brother Ali and belongs to three other hip-hop groups: The C.O.R.E., Aphrill and The Chosen Few.
certain rhythm,” Wright says. “The conversation can exist even when you don’t have a language to speak.”
The program at McNally Smith allows students who might not have gone to a traditional college—whether because of grades or a lack of interest—to continue their education in an area they find compelling.
Wright doesn’t think of his job as teaching, but as providing students with the tools to appreciate hip-hop’s cultural impact. “So much can be learned from hip-hop,” he says. It gives students insight into why they dress the way they dress and speak the way they speak. Wright says hip-hop can teach students more than he ever could.
— SAMANTHA MACHART
b
a
c
Answ ers: 1c, 2a, 3ba n d
Mash
Match the
songs to the
tracks they
sample.
Hip-hop doesn’t require a specific performer or listener, because it revolves around honest reflections of daily life. “Hip-hop is relevant and recognizable all over the planet,” Wright says.
Through the music, the genre’s artists can cross boundaries and start conversations. “Whether you go to Uganda, Italy or the Czech Republic, you hear a
Limp Bizkit “Nookie” Mariah Carey “Always Be My Baby” a-ha “Take on Me” American Hi-Fi
“Flavor of the Weak”
Tears for Fears
“Shout”
Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg
“Still D.R.E.”
Avril Lavigne
“Girlfriend”
Disturbed
“Down With The Sickness”
Roy Orbison
“Oh, Pretty Woman”
Unk
“Walk it Out”
Rage Against the Machine
“Freedom”
Lil Mama
“G-Slide”
The act of taking a portion of a single recording, the “sample,” and repurposing it for use in another recording. — ALYSON CUMMINGS
life
Less than one
percent of all people
in the United States
are “functionally
deaf,” according to
research done at
Gallaudet University.
So it’s not surprising
most Americans
don’t think of
Deaf individuals
as bilingual and
bicultural citizens
who participate
in both the
hearing and Deaf
communities.
Instead, Deaf
people are mostly
thought of as
disabled.
When it comes to Deaf
culture, there’s more
than meets the ear.
“[The hearing community doesn’t] always think the Deaf have their own culture, but they do,” says Shirley Egbert, assistant education specialist at the University of Minnesota.
With a whole different set of social norms in etiquette and language use, Deaf individuals are challenged to develop an identity as fluent participators in two separate cultural realms. “The jokes, the literature, there’s a whole gamut of things that are different,” says Egbert. “Deaf people know how to interact with hearing people, but hearing people don’t know how to interact with Deaf people.”
The movement to raise awareness of the Deaf
community as a unique culture, independent from but existing in the hearing community, remains the true challenge. “More awareness is needed,” says Egbert. “That there is a Deaf culture, the use of sign language…none of that information is presented.”
The lack of
acknowledgement for Deaf individuals creates obstacles on
U N H E A R D
a daily basis for members of the Deaf culture. “Things aren’t as accessible,” Egbert says, referencing the increased accessibility for minority populations. For example, audio messages in airports are commonly broadcast in multiple languages, but remain completely inaccessible for any non-hearing individuals.
Though the Deaf community serves as an important minority group in the United States, the national census has never identified it as such. The United States may be a diverse nation, but our history shows we’re not always inclusive of different cultures. Is our attitude toward Deaf culture any different?
— A.J. MACDONALD
Photos by:
life
Q
A
ETI-
QUESTIONS
Our world is shrinking. Globalization and technology are allowing cultures and ideas to
meet and intermingle like never before. We’re in uncharted water, people! Naturally, you
might have a few questions. So, whether you have a cultural conundrum or
need advice about new media manners, I’m here to help with all
your real world etiquette uncertainties.
— LAUREN SCHELLERDear Prof. Politeness,
I was recently having a professional conversation with a man at the place wher
e I volunteer. When the conversation was over, I extended my hand for a shake and he kindly declined, saying that
he does not shake hands with women. I shook it off and we said our goodbyes, but I am curious
to hear your input on what I should have said or done. Is there any way to identify these customs
before a no-no happens?
Thanks, Awkward Handshaker
Awkward Handshaker,
Ah, yes. To shake or not to shake? The answer is more complex than one might think. It’s possible the man was just shy or sexist or a germaphobe. But most likely his actions were because of cultural or religious beliefs.
Perhaps you remember the “will he or won’t he shake” hoopla surrounding Somali President Sharif Ahmed when Hillary Clinton visited Somalia last year? Some members of Islam consider handshaking between genders taboo.
Ahmed, himself a Muslim and president of a predominantly Muslim country, risked offending many Somalis by shaking Clinton’s hand. As one Somali man was quoted by the Washington Post, “For many people, whether he’s loyal to Islam or not depends on the handshake.”
Islam isn’t the only religion that restricts opposite gender handshakes; Orthodox Jews that practice “shomer negiah,” which translates as “observant of touch,” often won’t shake hands with the opposite sex.
As for your question, if there
is any way to identify these customs, the answer is no. Just as many Somalis wanted Ahmed to shake Clinton’s hand as those who didn’t. Considering the situation, you did nothing wrong by extending your hand for a shake. You were being polite. You were also being polite by not making a scene when the man declined. Can you imagine explaining yourself every time you shook someone’s hand? It would be exhausting and possibly uncomfortable depending on the setting.
Sarah Routman, the executive director of Hillel Jewish Student Center at the University of Minnesota, offers some helpful advice: If you are unsure of someone’s customs, wait for them to extend a hand for a shake.
If the situation requires you to make the first move, be gracious if you get denied. A Muslim or Jewish man’s decision to not shake a woman’s hand, or vice versa, is no different than a Roman Catholic refusing to eat red meat on Friday— it’s spiritual, not sexist.
Shake on, Prof. P.
politics
500,000 1 M 4 M 8 M 18 M 28 M 38 M
Population of the United States by State
“
I mark African American if I can
only choose one, because when I’m out
and about I don’t feel people see me as
white. They see me as a minority.”
— Aaron Smith, 28, Minneapolis
Finding the Bull’s-Eye
Targeting an audience with a political ad is
becoming a more precise art.
When an election nears, ad campaigns make or break a politician. But are successful advertisements getting harder to produce? Scott Perreault, CEO and founder of a Minneapolis-based political advertising company, ScottPolitical.com, has more than 20 years of experience in audience targeting. He shares his insight on how he uses market research to guide politicians in pointing their ads toward voters most likely to tip the scale.
BLUR: How has the practice of targeting your audience changed?
Scott Perreault:
It’s not just a little bit of knowledge;it’s massive. There’s no guesswork anymore.
The last week before an election, when people are inundated with commercials on CNN or NBC, they literally turn their channels off to get away. We track them down. We find them on The Golf Channel. They’re more likely to be receptive [to the ads that we make] because there’s just one of our ads versus a hundred in a row.
Caucasian Other African American Asian Mixed Indian/Alaskan
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
Population by Race
74.3% 12.3% 5.8% 4.4% 2.2% .8% .15%BY ALICIA WERDEL
BREAKIN’ IT DOWN
politics
“I do like to put Hispanic/Latino, because people have pre-judgements about them and if they
see me it confuses them. But there are times I won’t put anything because I don’t want people to
judge me based on that. I don’t think it should matter at all.”
— Amy Jo Rohrer, 27, Mound, Minn.
English Spanish Chinese French
Pacific Islander
Top 5 Languages Spoken at Home
B: How important is it for a candidate to figure
out how to reach their target audience?
SP:
A couple years ago we worked with Ralph Nader. [He was] busy ... constantly on the move. But he found time once a week to be involved in all the production meetings. It was that important. Usually, candidates are involved. They have a vision, and our job is to put it into a format with pictures, and words, and music and high-tech fonts and all that stuff.B: Which aspects of an advertisement do you change
to make it appeal to certain groups of people?
SP:
It’s pretty obvious—maybe I’ve been doing this too long—[what] you’re targeting in the 2010 election: the female, independent, moderate vote. There are two or three issues the female moderate will be more willing to listen to—certainly more visuals can be used and can include children. If you see a specific type of core—iron workers, steel workers or business people—you can tell by the colors. All those kinds of things that allow you to reach that person without screaming, “Hey, are you this person? Vote for us!”— KEVIN COSS English Only
English and Spanish English and Indo-European English and Asian/Pacific Islander English and Other
Multilingual Americans
Cuban South American Of Spanish Descent Central American Puerto Rican Dominican MexicanHispanic Population
69.1% 14.1% 12.3% 10.3% 8.7% 5.4% 4.3%politics
S
eeking
Common
Ground
Let’s face it: The political climate in the United States is growing more hostile every day. Anybody who witnessed last year’s town hall meetings on the federal health care bill can attest to it.
For a myriad of reasons, including a slower-than-expected economic recovery, hyper-partisanship is the norm in American politics, and there seems to be less and less room for moderates and those who advocate compromise.
In this environment of divisive politics, it’s difficult to see anything but the differences that exist between political ideologies.
But what is rarely
acknowledged is the common ground that these groups often share. Whether it’s philosophy, policy or just common goals for the country to achieve, politicians from different parties can, on occasion, agree with each other. Yes, Republicans can agree with Green Party members. Even Libertarians agree with Socialists on some issues, believe it or not.
—
ALEX HALL
Is it time to focus on political
parties’ similarities?
Key to Political
Ideologies
Republicans
Democrats
Socialists
politics
REPUBLICANS ONLY:
For: right-to-life policies; private school vouchers; the death penalty.
DEMOCRATS ONLY:
For: a government-funded health care option; government intervention in the economy (imposing regulations on financial companies, government spending to stimulate the economy); the graduated income tax.
LIBERTARIANS ONLY:
For: elimination of the public school system; elimination of the Federal Reserve; elimination of the income tax; abolition of the minimum wage.
SOCIALISTS ONLY:
For: worker and community ownership of corporations; public-only financing of elections; a cap on executive compensation; the repeal of North American Free Trade Agreements (NAFTA) and other free trade agreements.
GREEN PARTY ONLY:
For: eventually eliminating the use of fossil fuels.
REPUBLICANS AND LIBERTARIANS:
For: a laissez-faire economy; small government; privatizing social security; a flat income tax; privately run heath care; gun rights; reduction of taxes.
REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS:
For: the war on terror; prohibiting illicit drugs; a strong military presence overseas.
LIBERTARIANS AND SOCIALISTS:
For: legalizing illicit drugs.
GREEN PARTY AND SOCIALISTS:
For: universal health care; prohibiting offshore oil drilling; holding corporations who pollute responsible; prohibiting new nuclear and coal power plants; a steeply graduated income tax.
DEMOCRATS, GREEN PARTY AND SOCIALISTS:
For: the creation of green jobs; legislation regulating greenhouse gas emissions; social programs (such as welfare, food stamps and publicly-funded social security); federally-funded stem cell research; labor unions.
DEMOCRATS, LIBERTARIANS, GREEN
PARTY AND SOCIALISTS:
For: GLBT rights; women’s reproductive rights policies; complete separation of church and state.
ALL FIVE:
For: energy independence; freedom of speech; freedom of religion.
Green Party
A
SPIDER
BABY
Wrestling, writing
and entertaining
are only three
strands in Terrance
Griep’s web.
n excruciating
wrestling hold called the seated
abdominal stretch. A Minneapolis
TV show that addresses whatever
is on the host’s mind. A
Scooby-Doo comic book featuring a
mythical Rainbow Serpent. What,
you may ask, is the thread that
ties all of these together? In some
shape or form, each is the creation
of Terrance Griep, also known as
Tommy “The SpiderBaby” Saturday.
Griep, of Minneapolis, may be best known for his wrestling character SpiderBaby, who woos his devoted fans by respectfully calling them “fruit flies.” Like his creator, SpiderBaby is unique in the Twin Cities wrestling community and beyond because he’s openly gay. But Griep’s wrestling alter ego is definitely not a gimmick. He’s earned the title of Midwest Champion with his home federation, Northern Lights Wrestling. In 2009, SpiderBaby was named Best Professional Wrestler by Minneapolis’s City Pages.
Griep started wrestling in 2003. He came out to the wrestling world before his first match. “Coming out on the independent scene is not nearly as big a deal as coming out as an NFL player, whether retired or active,” says Griep. After the match, Griep received a standing ovation from other wrestlers in the locker room.
BY BRIAN JOHNSON
Photos by:
Matt Carlson
SPIDER
BABY
“SpiderBaby is exactly who I would be.”
“A wrestling match is a story— it’s an extremely physical story—but it’s a story. It has a beginning, middle and an end.”
“The writing, more than a job, it is a lifestyle. It just
consumes everything.” “Writing structure will bleed into all sorts of things, but especially wrestling matches.” “[When writing on
deadline], the rest of my life kind of
has to take a backseat.”
“There’s a lot about him I admire, because he lives in the moment, which I’ve never been able to do.” “I always rooted for the villains, to the extent where my mom wanted to bring me to the psychiatrist.”
“Coming out on the independent scene is not nearly as big a deal as coming out as an
NFL player, whether retired or active,” says Griep.
Since then, he has found a way to successfully relate to his fans. The fruit flies have stuck around. “I don’t forget that they are there. I’m always interacting with the fans,” Griep says.
Whether he’s playing a good guy, bad guy or just plain cheater—which he often is—Griep’s can send a message. “He’s just really smart about telling a story with his body,” says Bill Borea, a retired semi-professional wrestler and Griep’s co-host on MTN Spectator, a Minneapolis variety TV show. “He’s a storyteller.”
Griep’s talent for storytelling extends beyond the ropes. A comic book writer since 1993, he’s written for the DC Comic Scooby-Doo and is currently developing a SpiderBaby comic. “I keep working toward the day where I will be less all-consumed …
but that seems far away,” Griep says of his constant writing. This fall marks Griep’s seventh anniversary as a wrestler. When asked about retirement, Griep admits he finds it hard to take seriously until he finds something that he loves as much as wrestling. “Interacting with a huge live crowd. And living in a world where I can beat people up legally. And good and evil are clearly, easily delineated. I just don’t know what would replace all that,” Griep says.
He isn’t sure when it will be, but when he eventually walks away, it won’t be easy. “There will be a hole there,” Griep says as he ponders his future. “What do I replace that with? Who will that version of this Griep guy be?” More than likely, he will spin up an entirely new web.
Photos by:
GLBT... Is that a sandwich?
A crash course in gender identity terminology.
Do you know how to respectfully refer to someone who has had a sex change operation? What about a man who wears women’s clothing? The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) website provides information specifying commonly misused and misunderstood
GLBT terms. Here are a few that are good to know:
TRANSGENDERIs a term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. This term is meant to be used as an adjective, not a noun. Right: “a transgender person.” Wrong: “a transgender.” Transgender can include transsexuals, cross-dressers and other “gender-variant” people.
Some transgender people alter their bodies hormonally and/ or surgically, while others choose not to. Thus, transgender is often referred to as an umbrella term in the GLBT community.
TRANSSEXUAL Refers to people who have changed their gender by undergoing surgical procedures. While some prefer the term transsexual, others want to be identified as a transgender person.
TRANSVESTITE Is an offensive term in the GLBT community; cross-dresser is the preferred alternative. This term pertains to people who are comfortable with their sex and don’t desire to change it. Cross-dressers are not individuals who have taken on a full-time life as the opposite sex.
— LAURA SIEVERT
But whether he’s a good guy, bad guy or just plain cheater, Griep can tell a story.
Griep’s fruit flies cheer on SpiderBaby as he single-handedly fights an uphill battle against Scott “The Brauler” Brault (in pink) and his partner, Patrick “Seven Feet of Sexy” Lomax (in black).
Don’t lie. You collected the cards. You
watched the show. You chose Pokémon
and Pokémon chose you. But it’s no
coincidence that cute little Pikachu made
its way into your heart.
Since the term “Japonism” was first
used in the late 1800s to describe the
influence of Japanese art on Western art,
the impact of the Japanese aesthetic on
American pop culture can’t be overstated.
From cartoons to comics to film to
architecture, Americans increasingly see
the world through a Japanese lens.
TURNING
JAPANESE
Japanese aesthetics
sculpt American pop
culture.
BY BENJAMIN ONG
Drawn together
Anime and manga—Japanese cartoons and comic books, respectively—have influenced American television shows such as Samurai Jack, The Ren and Stimpy Show and The Powerpuff Girls. A cartoon about a time-displaced warrior, Samurai Jack uses flushed-out colors, much like traditional Japanese paintings. The Powerpuff Girls, a show about three action heroes, uses a color combination of pink, blue and green. Each specific color is associated with a member of the superhero team. What’s more, the cartoon’s giant robot and Godzilla-like monsters are as gimmicky as traditional anime villains.Illustrated evil
Anime villains are scary because they unexpectedly transform in front of your eyes, says Frenchy Lunning, Ph.D., a professor of liberal arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.In Perfect Blue, an anime film focusing on a pop idol and her stalker, the audience first gets to know the singer’s manager as a positive and helpful character. As the film progresses, the manager develops an obsession with the singer that eventually drives her insane. “When she transforms at the end, it’s so freaky because we know her and we can think like her,” Lunning says. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty presents the opposite approach, where the villain Maleficent is simply evil. The narrative provides little back story or character development to explain how this happened or what’s going on in her head.
We’ve got soul
Before the late 1990s, most American cartoons used linear storytelling. The characters were flesh, bone and superpower, but they lacked soul and character development. Lunning points to the advertised trailers for the upcoming film Green Lantern, due to hit theaters mid-2011, noting it trades character depth in favor of action scenes. Lunning says the way Green Lantern laughingly shows off his newfound superpower seems disingenuous and fake. “[American comic producers] are so tied up with this love affair for the dorky, funny power toy,” she says. “If it were a real person, they’d be freaked out.”American plots originally revolved around a superhuman and super shallow male protagonist, who was a far shot from a regular guy. The Japanese anime Sailor Moon changed that by introducing characters that matured over time; they grew from frightened schoolgirls to heroines. Eventually, that preference for character development moved stateside. “They started to change things,” Lunning says. “[The cartoons] started to be about the person.”
That preoccupation with character growth appears in comic
books like Spiderman, which showcases Peter Parker’s struggle into maturity. Parker was the guy who never could seem to do it right, a flaw that brought realism to his character. The change in character styles can also be seen in the evolution of the Batman franchise, which originally assumed a lighthearted and comical triteness but later turned dark and serious. Think of Adam West’s portrayal of Batman opposed to Christian Bale’s.
The eyes have it
Big eyes are the defining feature of anime. When anime artist Osamu Tezuka started the trend with his 1952 Astroboy comic book, he was inspired by the exaggerated features of Walt Disney’s characters, including Mickey Mouse and Bambi. That’s because Tezuka believed that large eyes showed more emotions and distinct expressions.In the 1980s, many American cartoons like He-Man and Thundercats had a realistic look with normal-sized eyes. Eventually, large eyes made their way back into American cartoons, including Dexter’s Laboratory, Rugrats, The Ren and Stimpy Show and Family Guy.
Girl power
Until the 1990s, most American cartoons were created for boys, featuring lots of fighting and male superheroes. “We girls, all we got was Wonder Woman. That was just DC throwing us a bone,” says Lunning, who adds that early female cartoon characters were rarely tough. Often, they played the damsel in distress for the male superhero to save.And then came Sailor Moon. This anime about a group of middle-school girls with super powers hit American airwaves in 1995. Lunning believes that the show and other “girl-centric”
Speed Racer is an early example of anime that gained popularity in America.
Courtesy of:
Cartoon Network and Speed Racer Enterprises.
Copyright 2010 Speed Racer Enterprises,
Inc.
All rights reser
Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup together form the Powerpuff Girls, a superpowered team that fight to save the world before bedtime. Betty Boop’s “big eyes” inspired Osamu Tezuka’s drawings.
Courtesy of:
Cartoon Network and King F
eatures Syndicate.
©2000 King F
eatures Syndicate,
Inc./Fleischer Studios Inc.
TM Hearst Holdings.
anime sparked a new trend in the West, with television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Powerpuff Girls, in which girls are the prominent characters and are able to stand their ground against male counterparts. “It’s not just that they can go kick ass,” Lunning says. “The story revolves around them; they hold the story together. That’s where the power is.”
These female characters weren’t just heroines in an action scene, but they were emotionally powerful as well. Nana, a manga about the friendship of two girls living in Tokyo, trades fight scenes for the personality difference between friends to further its plot.
The influences of Japanese manga brought American girls into comics in a way they had never been before. “It was such a boy’s art—done for boys and done by boys—and girls were really cut out of it,” Lunning says. Today, the majority of comic books produced by industry giants such as DC and Marvel are still directed toward boys, but women characters are growing in popularity among independent publishers. Fun Home, a memoir comic by Alison Bechdel about her life growing up in a funeral home, was a huge hit. Despite its success, Fun Home wasn’t published by a major comic book producer. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published the series.
Too cute
American marketing and design, according to Lunning, have been profoundly influenced by the Japanese fondness for cuteness. That’s what drove the American craze for one of the most popular Japanese contributions to American culture: Pokémon. Eventually, “cuteness” found its way into cartoons and packaging. Hello Kitty, a Japanese merchandise franchise featuring a rounded female cat with an oversized red bow, was an immediate success when it hit the U.S. in 1976. Since then, advertising and marketing companies have incorporated fuzzy animals into packaging and advertisements. In 2000, Charmin toilet paper introduced a group of fuzzy bears in their advertisements—they have since becomemascots of the toilet paper. This year, Kia released a television ad featuring adorable hamster rappers. In addition to airing on television, the ad has amassed hundreds of thousands of views on Internet video sites, such as YouTube— evidence of its warm reception in the U.S.
While Japanese manga and anime have changed American comics and cartoons in many ways,
Lunning believes the influence is still in progress. “They’ve recognized the power of manga,” she says. “And they’re adapting both stylistically and in terms of storylines.”
Traditional Japanese architecture idealizes the use of space and ease of movement. It is a practical idea, one that American architecture legend Frank Lloyd Wright realized and incorporated into his designs, particularly with his masterpiece Fallingwater. Tadao Ando, a renowned Japanese architect, was quoted as saying, “I think Wright learned the most important aspect of architecture, the treatment
ZEN SPACES
A fireplace in Fallingwater. Photos by: W estern P ennsylvania Conser vancy (Exterior) and Robert Ruschak (Interior).
The Japanese elements used in Fallingwater’s design include horizontality of space, low-slung profile, extended rooflines, detailed roof edges, exposure of natural materials and the use of a porch, according to Blaine Brownell, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Architecture.
of space, from Japanese architecture. When I visited Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, I found that same sensibility of space. But there were the additional natural sounds of nature that appealed to me.” Japanese architecture also emphasizes harmony with nature. Built atop an active waterfall, Fallingwater feels bonded to the surrounding forest. Constructed of wood and grey-stone, the structure is well integrated with its natural surroundings.
There are 16 players on Humboldt’s soccer team. Fifteen are refugees from Myanmar—the official name of Burma—and Somalia. Of those 15, 13 are Karen—an ethnic group from Karen State, Myanmar, that has been aggressively targeted for nearly half a century by the governing military group that has controlled the country.
Traditionally, Myanmar is a Buddhist country, but about 30 percent of Karen practice Christianity. Eh Taw Dwe, a board member of the Karen Organization of Minnesota and a refugee himself, says that the Karen are persecuted because of their religion, their ethnicity and their political opinion. “You can tell religious persecution is happening in the country,” Dwe says. “Those who are Buddhist may not be familiar with this part because the country is a Buddhist country. Only the Christians understand it.”
The Karen students
and teammates JulianGarcia-Delaney, Abdulle and Abdishakur Mohamud have revitalized Humboldt’s soccer program, which until 2007 had not had a winning season for 20 years. In October, the players
As the national anthem played over the
loudspeakers, the boys of the Humboldt High
School varsity soccer team stared at the flag
of the country that had granted them refuge.
Humboldt lined up along the right side of the field,
standing tall and yet a full head shorter than their
opponents. The boys smirked as they heard their
names being mispronounced by the announcer.
When Aliaar Abdulle, a team captain, became
“A liar,” their chuckles could be heard from the
stands. But by the time the starting whistle blew,
all traces of laughter had vanished from their faces.
This was the championship game of section 4A,
the furthest any Humboldt team had ever gotten.
BY YURIDIA RAMÍREZ
DO YOU SPEAK IT?
Karen refugees find a new home
on a familiar field.
SOCCER
Left: Humboldt boys varsity soccer team huddles before their first playoff game against New Life Academy in St. Paul, Minn.
Photo by:
Marlie Barr
Left: Tin Tun Naing strikes the ball back into play. Right: Julian Garcia-Delaney (left) readies himself as Yae Naing Tun (right) heads the ball toward their goal. Top right: Head varsity coach Matt Osborne (right) tackles his team after earning second place in their conference.
“Even though we all want to go to college next year, we all want to go to the
same college. I’m scared to go alone. I don’t want to be new again.”
became Humboldt’s first varsity soccer team in history to advance to the championship game in their section.
Tin Tun Naing, 20, was the goalkeeper and one of the team captains—the former a role he wishes he didn’t have to play because of the pressure, the latter a role he takes seriously on the field. “He’s like their dad,” says head varsity coach Matt Osborne. “He is the one who keeps them together.”
Born in the village of Kaw Hlaing in Karen State, Naing’s life was disrupted when his family’s farm was forcibly taken away by the military when he was five. Naing’s family is Buddhist, so they were not persecuted for religious reasons. He thinks the military wanted his family’s land for themselves. Seeing no viable way to provide for their family, Naing’s mother and father departed for Mae Sot, Thailand, leaving Naing to live with his 15-year-old sister. Naing was finally reunited with his family four years later, and by the time he was 13, he and his family were living in a refugee camp in Mae La, Thailand.
More than 1,000 people were living in the refugee camp, which Naing says was a microcosm of Myanmar, where they ate free rice and fish paste donated from an international human rights organization and lived in houses made of bamboo. Soccer distracted Naing and other children his age from camp life. Naing remembers skipping school to go play soccer with other boys, even though he knew his actions would prompt a certain stick-whipping by his teacher. That there was no grass or appropriate footwear didn’t matter. “If we put shoes on, we can’t catch the ball,” Naing says. Besides, “shoes are expensive.”
Within 13 minutes
of the first half, Myat Aye had scored a goal for Humboldt—a scissor kick in the air that propelled the ball to the top left corner of the goal. The game was tight for the rest of the half, both sides equally diligent.The first 20 minutes of the second half proved decisive.
Mounds Park tied the game at 1-1 by the 12th minute, and five
minutes later they scored again to take the lead. Slowly, the Humboldt players’ consistent game became disordered. Mounds Park players were brawnier than the average 5-foot-5-inch Humboldt player, and their aggressive style of play remained unchecked by the referee.
Four more years
would pass until Naing would be safely in the United States. His family applied to be relocated in Minnesota with the help of the International Organization of Migration. Naing and his family arrived in St. Paul on March 11, 2008, a day that will live forever in his memory. “I have to remember that day,” Naing says. “First day of being in the United States.” So far, Naing says life is better. He doesn’t have to pay for school or live in fear that the police will send them back to Myanmar. “I like it here,” he says, “Here is better. You can have a job here. You can have an education here. I don’t want to live there.”Starting a new school in a new culture, however, was difficult. “The first year of school, no good,” Naing says. “I didn’t know anybody in school. I didn’t have a friend here.” Naing didn’t speak English, and in 2008, there were only a handful of Karen students, most of whom were more advanced than Naing. He was left to venture on his own. But now with more than 100 Karen students attending Humboldt, refugee students have a greater network of support than Naing had just two years earlier. They even have a Karen translator: Mr. Sunshine.
Soccer entered Naing’s life, again, at a crucial moment. He eventually befriended a Hmong student, Yee Her, who invited him to play for St. Paul United, a competitive club soccer team in the city. “When I joined the team, I didn’t even talk,” Naing says. But he liked playing soccer, and while he might not have understood what his teammates were saying, he did understand the game.
Photos by:
Marlie Barr
y
Now Naing has a lot of friends, most of whom are refugee and immigrant students from all over the world. But his closest friends are members of the team. Their varsity team is united by soccer, the one language they all fluently speak. And their “family” exists off the field as well. At a team dinner, Garcia-Delaney’s mother, Carrie Garcia, made the team feel like they were all in the same family, eating noodles together, Naing says. “Sometimes when we meet before the game starts,” he says, “instead of saying ‘Hawks on three,’ we say ‘Hawks on family.’”
Family is especially significant to these students, some of whom lost parents, brothers and sisters in Myanmar. Players who do have relatives in St. Paul still can’t expect their families to attend games because most lack transportation or have work conflicts. So, Humboldt’s students and staff have become surrogate family members. In a school where 41 percent of the students are English-language learners and 91 percent receive free or reduced lunch, a welcoming atmosphere has positively impacted their lives.
Though they will part ways upon graduation, Garcia-Delaney, Abdulle and Mohamud will continue being Naing’s friends. But he and his Karen friends will most likely be together for a long time to come. “Even though we all want
to go to college next year,” he says, “we all want to go to the same college. I’m scared to go alone. I don’t want to be new again.”
In the final 20 minutes,
Mounds Park scored again, making the final score 3-1 and ending Humboldt’s chances of making history at state. The Mounds Park team—whose students pay an annual tuition of $19,960—celebrated by drenching their coach with ice water.The boys from Myanmar—all who had lived in refugee camps, and some who had been forced to live in the jungle in order to hide from “the enemy”—sat on the soccer field, staring at the goalposts. Teary-eyed, the boys rose slowly and walked with their heads down toward their bench. The cheering of the small group of teachers and classmates who had travelled to watch them play made them look up—a greeting fit for champions.
“At this point,” Osborne says, “there is no way this season isn’t a success.”
Naing was sad, but the shining medal hanging around his neck only reaffirmed how far his team had gotten and demonstrated his feelings now that it was all over. “Better now,” Naing says. “It’s better now.”
MMM...
Four great places to find
M
ulticultural
M
eals in
M
inneapolis.
1
Chin Dian Café
1500 East Hennepin Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55414612. 676.1818
www.chindiancafe.com
Married couple Nina Wong and Thomas Gnanapragasam of Minneapolis are the masterminds behind this Chinese-Indian eatery. Wong is of Chinese descent but was born in Vietnam. Gnanapragasam is Indian, born in Malaysia. The couple also has a 3-year-old daughter who, according to Wong, is truly “Chindian.”
The food overlaps Asian traditions with distinctly Vietnamese and Malaysian influences. Their Chicken Chow Mai Fun is a traditional Chinese dish with an Indian curry zing. Wong also markets her own line of sauces, so you can take the unique flavors home.
Chicken Chow
Mai Fun
Ingredients:
1/4 cup cooked chicken 1/4 cup carrot (optional) 1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup bean sprouts 1/4 cup green onions 1 handful of rice vermicelli
2 tablespoons curry powder 1 tablespoon salt
1 egg
3 tablespoons oil
Preparation:
Heat wok on high and add oil. Reduce heat to medium and scramble one egg. Add sliced onion, carrot and chicken, sauteing until onion is translucent. Next, add rice vermicelli, curry powder and salt into the wok mixture. Cook until noodles are limp. Finally, toss in bean sprouts and green onions.
2
Ginger Hop
201 East Hennepin Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55414 612.746.0304www.gingerhop.com East meets Nordeast at Ginger Hop, where Asian flavors spice up classic American dishes. Manager Katey Leitch says the Northeast neighborhood is a great spot for an Asian fusion restaurant like Ginger Hop.
Preparation:
Heat corned beef and toasted bread on a griddle. Assemble sandwich with desired amount of toppings and condiments. For sweet potato fries, slice sweet potatoes into thin strips, fry and toss with salt.
The restaurant’s signature sandwich, dubbed the Kimchi Kulakofsky, takes Reuben Kulakofsky’s original Reuben to new levels. Co-owner Charles Lodge was inspired to replace sauerkraut with kimchi and Thousand Island dressing with Sriracha mayonnaise while eating the traditional version on vacation.
Kimchi
Kulakofsky
Ingredients: 2 slices pumpernickel bread Generous pile of corned beef Swiss cheese Kimchi Sriracha mayonnaise Sweet potato friesPhotos by:
3
Chino Latino
2916 Hennepin Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55408 612.824.7878www.chinolatino.com
Chino Latino’s cheeky menu reads “crisp fried calamari with a spicy pepper salt from some island in the South China Sea,” but there’s more story behind this squid dish. Before opening the restaurant, Executive Chef Tuan Nguyen traveled to Lamma Island, southeast of Hong Kong, where he sampled items and formulated the menu. Nguyen found a restaurant serving a delicious squid steak dish. When he returned to the U.S., he could find nothing like it. With the addition of peppers and onions, the Asian island dish evolved into a Minneapolis favorite.
Ingredients:
1 squid, cleaned and cut into rings
1 red pepper 1 jalapeño 1 yellow onion Breading: 1 quart cornstarch 1/4 cup salt
1/6 cup white pepper
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup passion fruit concentrate
1 pint heavy cream 3/8 cup sugar 1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon chicken base salt and pepper mix to taste 1 green plantain
Squid Salt: 1/2 quart fine salt 1/2 cup black pepper 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup five spice
5 tablespoons garlic powder 1/4 cup cayenne
Preparation:
After slicing squid into rings, dredge them in the breading mixture. Fry the vegetables and squid until the calamari is crispy. Add the salt mixture into the calamari and mix to taste.
1 cup vegetable oil 1 pound chicken breast 1 egg 1/2 green pepper j julienned 1/4” 1/2 yellow onion julienned 1/4” 1/4 carrot julienned 1/4” 1 cup white rice
Preparation:
Melt butter in a large saucepan and add shallots for a brief saute. Add sugar, chicken base and salt and pepper mix. Remove from heat and keep warm. Slice plantain thinly on a mandoline slicer and fry in vegetable oil until crispy. Crush plantains for breading. Dip the chicken in the beaten egg wash, then roll in fried plantain crumbs. Saute and finish in 350-degree oven. Serve with passion fruit sauce and rice.
Belafonte’s Banana
Boat Chicken
Lamma Island Salty Squid
Photos by:
Matt Carlson
With a nod to the singer’s famous “Banana Boat Song,” this chicken dish will sail to the top of your list of favorite plates to share at Chino Latino. The chicken is breaded with crushed plantain and doused in passion fruit sauce to brighten up this Caribbean-style dish.
4
Fusion
291 Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55408 612.824.6300www.fusionmpls.com
The word “Tako” is not an attempt to be hip; it is the Japanese word for octopus. Chef Terry Hong fuses typical sushi accoutrements with a variety of ingredients, such as fried tempura crumbs and house-made mayonnaise. Since sushi has little smell by nature, Chef Hong stacks this dish high to stimulate the diner’s sense of sight.
Terry’s Tako
Salad
Ingredients:
Octopus Seaweed salad
Spicy Sriracha mayonnaise Smelt roe (smelt eggs) English cucumber Burdock root (pickled Japanese carrot)
Daikon sprouts Tempura flakes Flying fish roe (flying fish eggs)
House sweet sauce Sesame seeds Lemon garnish
Preparation:
Cut octopus into thin slices. Mix with seaweed salad, smelt roe and spicy mayonnaise. Slice English cucumber and lay out for a “liner” on the plate. Place salad on top of cucumber with julienned, pickled carrots and sprouts. Complete by sprinkling tempura flakes and sesame seeds. Drizzle on sweet sauce and place flying fish roe on top with a lemon garnish.
The brainchild of the four original Fusion chefs, the Fusion Roll is comprised of elements that are usually on opposite ends of the table. From fried shrimp and potatoes to raw tuna, it’s almost faster to list what’s not included. The mixture of hot and cold, crunchy and chewy creates a unique blend of textures and flavors. It’s topped with crispy potatoes and a drizzle of truffle oil.
Fusion Roll
Ingredients:
Nori (seaweed roll) Sushi rice English cucumber Burdock root (pickled Japanese carrot)
Spicy Sriracha mayonnaise
Shrimp tempura
Spicy tuna (Sriracha chile oil, jalapeños) Fried Yukon potatoes Flying fish roe White truffle oil House eel sauce Diced scallions Wasabi Ginger
Preparation:
Flatten sushi rice onto the nori. Lay shrimp strips, cucumber and carrot lengthwise, add mayonnaise. Roll this with the rice on the outside. Place spicy tuna on top of the roll, and slice into bite size pieces. Top with fried potatoes, eel sauce, scallions, truffle oil and roe. Complete with a traditional wasabi and ginger garnish.
Photos by:
Is multitasking lowering our IQs?
BY MARIAL WEIDNER
When recent college graduate Ross Urven wakes up, he does a lot more than read the morning news or down a bowl of cereal. “I turn on the TV, turn on the computer, check my e-mail, Facebook and about eight different webcomics—all on different windows,” says the Wisconsin native. “Sometimes I use two different computers. I also feed my plants on Plants vs. Zombies on Xbox 360.”
Urven is a proud epitome of a generation known for doing five things at once. He is a multitasker. And according to current research, all this switching around may be more hazardous to his health than taking a bong hit or getting behind the wheel after a round of beers.
Used for decades to describe the parallel processing abilities of computers,
multitasking is now shorthand for the human attempt to do as many things as possible at the same time. Years ago, the skill was the mainstay of corporate resumes. Today, the rapid rise of the Internet and other technologies has made multitasking so commonplace that it’s almost blase. The simple act of reading a book has been replaced by listening to a podcast while walking down the street and texting your friend. Want to write in a
DOING MORE, THINKING LESS
journal? Don’t be so old school. Try posting on a blog while listening to music and cooking dinner.
All of this multitasking is made possible by our increasing dependence on digital technology and screens. But while multitasking has been encouraged in schools and in the workplace, new research shows that it can have some very serious consequences. Several studies show that doing more than one thing at a time can have drastic consequences, including car accidents and injuries. Workers who were distracted by e-mail and phone calls saw their IQs drop more
than twice compared with people who smoke marijuana, according to a study conducted by the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London.
Multitasking has become so routine that it can feel like an addiction. According to InsideFacebook.com, 18- to 25-year-olds make up 43 percent of total Facebook users, more than any other age demographic. A study conducted by Covenant College found that Facebook users have lower GPAs than those who use Facebook less or not at all. In addition, a study conducted by Ohio University about their undergraduates
concluded, “Users averaged one to five hours a week studying, while non-users studied 11 to 15 hours per week. Typically, Facebook users in the study had GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5, while non-users had GPAs between 3.5 and 4.0.”
Laptops can also feed the multitasking frenzy. Results from a study conducted by the Winona State University Psychology Department showed that students who brought a laptop to class spent much of their time doing several tasks at once, distracting both themselves and fellow students: “The level
Within Reach
Smart phones store more,
so you can carry less.
Backpack full? Go buy a smart phone. Now, go purchase some
apps to make those everyday devices you’re lugging around obsolete. To help you get started, here’s a list of helpful apps. You’re welcome.
Broadersheet
Why get your news from only one paper? Broadersheet combines all the news from around the world in one app. It learns about your interests and feeds your phone with related stories.
Layar Reality Browser
Picture this: You’re on an unfamiliar street and want to know which restaurant is the best. Don’t Google each one— fire up this app. Using your phone’s camera, Layar Reality Browser visually recognizes places and then layers textual information, like reviews, on top of what you see on your screen.
Starbucks Card Mobile
Trying to find enough change in your pocket for your morning espresso? Nothing but lint? Don’t cry. Now you can pay for your caffeine fix with your phone. Currently this app can only be used at limited locations, but it’s expected to expand.
— LARRY GANDY
DOING MORE, THINKING LESS
Is multitasking ruining your life?
Here’s how to tell:
• Your memory frequently lapses.
• You have difficulty retaining information. • Your productivity drops.
• Your accuracy declines.
of laptop use was negatively related to several measures of student learning; including self-reported understanding of course material and overall course performance.” Instead of absorbing the information their professors are presenting, students are increasingly logging on to Facebook or browsing YouTube. “You can be in the front of the classroom and your hair could catch on fire and they’ll never see it because their eyes are glued to the 14-inch screen at the end of their nose,” says University of Houston Associate Professor Dennis Adams in his Wall Street Journal article, “The Laptop Backlash.”
Libraries used to be a place for people to read or study quietly. Now they are filled with people clicking away on their laptops, listening to their
iPods and quickly scanning information. This concerns librarians like Kimberly Clarke, who works at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities: “New technologies provide a quick and easy way to scan information, but often students do not actually retain the information,” she says.
But not all multitasking is harmful. For Urven, it’s actually helped him maintain one of the most important aspects of his life. “I’m in a long-distance relationship and we rarely have enough signal for actual conversations,” he says. “So we tend to text throughout the day.”
Photos by:
Marlie Barr
tech
Beyond the Blueprint
Computer-aided
design pushes
the limits of
architecture.
If you watched Michael Phelps win a record-breaking eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games, you witnessed another incredible feat as well. Beijing’s Water Cube, the aquatic center for the competition, was created with the help of generative design−a new type of computer software for architects.
tech
Photos by:
(c
lockwise from left) Dmitr
y P erstin, F rancisco Diez, Kudu Momo, T aso Viglas and K yle Simourd.
Rendering by Mike Hara.
Opposite page: Beijing National Stadium (better known as the Bird’s Nest), was created using generative design components.
Top far right: Inside Beijing’s Water Cube during the 2008 Olympics.
Middle far right: Marc Swackhamer and Blair Satterfield, in association with colleagues from their architecture research collaborative HouMinn Practice, created OSWall, a relief shelter that can be built in one day and be made out of any type of material native to the land. Bottom far right and middle right: Outside Water Cube.
Without generative design, architects begin creating a building with an overall vision of what they want it to look like. Then they adjust their models according to what is actually buildable. With generative design, architects start with the parameters they want the building to incorporate. This can range from wanting to take full advantage of south-side sunlight to needing the air to flow in an energy-saving, spherical pattern throughout the building.
Or, as in the case of the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest (Beijing National Stadium), it may be that the architect wants to build an aquatic center around the concept of how bubbles look grouped together.
Starting a project this way can result in a building with an appearance an architect could never have imagined. The computer, in a way, is a co-designer of the spaces. “It’s hard to tell where computer-aided design ends and
generative design begins,” says Lee Anderson, a professor of architecture at the University of Minnesota. “But usually, if there are parameters and some equations driving the shape, then you can pretty much call it generative design.”
Since generative design is still considered a specialty in the field of architecture, the programs are fairly technical. However, Marc Swackhamer, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Minnesota, says it has already caught on in big firms and predicts that more will likely adopt it.
